Quid significat nomen? (What's in a name?)

For the purposes of classification and effective communication among scient ists, organisms must have unequivocal names. The binomial naming system of species was devised and popularised by Linnaeus in the 18th Century. His "B otanical Latin" is an artificial language first. adopted for naming plants and is now internationally accepted as a naming system for both plants and animals. Genus and species names are based on Latin and Greek words which d escribe characteristics of the organism, as well as words from more modern sources, such as the name of the discoverer or place of discovery. Naming f ollows certain rules and all of the word endings are Latinised. The history of naming parasites is interesting and the molecular age may influence nam ing in the future. (C) 2000 Australian Society for Parasitology Inc. Publis hed by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.